Van Cott v. Casper

176 P. 849, 53 Utah 161, 1918 Utah LEXIS 14
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedApril 20, 1918
DocketNo. 3038
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 176 P. 849 (Van Cott v. Casper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Cott v. Casper, 176 P. 849, 53 Utah 161, 1918 Utah LEXIS 14 (Utah 1918).

Opinions

FRICK, C. J.

[162]*162The plaintiff, in November, 1915, brought this action against one Elizabeth Ann Casper to determine adverse claims and to quiet his title to the parcel of land hereinafter described. Pending the action, and before trial, Mrs. Casper died, and her son, J. A. Casper (to whom before her death she deeded the land a part of which is in dispute), was substituted as defendant. Plaintiff’s complaint contains the usual allegations in actions of this character under our statute. The defendant Casper claimed a fee-simple title to the land lying north of plaintiff’s land, and also claimed title in fee to the small strip in controversy, and further claimed title to said strip by adverse possession and by reason of an established boundary line between the lands of plaintiff and the defendant. The following plat, although a mere rough sketch, will, nevertheless, materially aid the reader to understand just what is in controversy in this action, and will also save time and space, in that it will avoid the giving of some lengthy and complicated descriptions by metes and bounds:

The plaintiff is the owner of the parcel marked “V” on the plat containing 4.11 acres. He purchased thé same by warranty deed from one Christopherson, June 5, 1915. The defendant is the owner of all of the land lying to tl\e north of .plaintiff’s parcel, which is designated as “Casper’s Farm” in the record, and is marked “ C. F. ” on the plat. One William Casper, the father of the defendant and the husband of the original defendant, Elizabeth Ann Casper, went into possession of all of the land in question here in the early fifties and obtained a patent therefor from the United States in August, 1875. In January, 1881, William Casper, the patentee, conveyed a parcel of his patented land containing a little in excess of fourteen acres to one Asahel L. Fuller, the north boundary line of which, plaintiff’s counsel contends, [163]*163was substantially or practically the same as the north boundary line of plaintiff’s parcel as shown on the plat. The land deeded to Fuller, however, extended farther south and west than does plaintiff’s parcel. That is, plaintiff’s parcel was entirely included within the land conveyed to Fuller by Casper. Fuller thereafter conveyed all of his land to one Peter C. Brixen and John L. Larsen. Brixen and his wife thereafter obtained the title to all of the Fuller land. The Brixens thereafter, in 1904, conveyed a portion of their land, including the parcel now owned by plaintiff, to one Enos' N. Jacldin, who, in December, 1913, conveyed plaintiff’s parcel with his other holdings to one Victor Christopherson, and the latter, in June, 1915, sold the parcel in question to the plaintiff as before stated. There are some other mesne conveyances, but they are not material to this controversy and will not be referred to.

In plaintiff’s deed,‘the north boundary line of his parcel of land is described as running from the point marked “a” on the plat to the point marked “b,” and thence in a direct line from “b” to the point marked “c,” to the center of a public road marked “R” on the plat. Such is also the description in the Brixen, Jacklin, and Christopherson deeds. The record, however, discloses that some time prior to October, 1890, William Casper, the patentee, engaged one Cahoon, a surveyor, to make a survey of his farm. Cahoon located the south boundary of Casper’s farm along what is now plaintiff’s land from the point marked “a” to the point marked “b,” and thence from the point “b” to the point “d,” and thence from point “d” to point “c” as shown on the plat. On October 20, 1890, William Casper deeded what is known as the Casper farm to his wife, Elizabeth Ann Casper, the original defendant. In that deed the south boundary line of the farm is designated in aceordancé with the Cahoon survey, namely, from the point “a” to the point “b,” thence to “d,” and thence to “c.” It will thus be seen that the description in plaintiff’s deed and the one in Mrs. Casper’s deed diverge at the point “b”; the difference between the two descriptions being that in plaintiff’s deed the boundary is in a direct line from the point “b”. to the point “c,” while the boundary [164]*164line according to Mrs. Casper’s deed runs from the point “b” to the point “d” and thence to “c, ” which leaves a small triangular strip marked “P” on the plat between the descriptions, which is the only land in dispute in this action.

The district court, after hearing the evidence and after viewing the premises, made findings of fact and conclusions of law in favor of the defendant and entered a decree quieting the title to the triangular parcel in dispute in the defendant. The court in substance also found that the defendant and bis predecessors in interest for more than twenty-five years prior to the commencement of the action had been in actual possession and had claimed the land in dispute as their own and during all of that time had kept the same inclosed in a substantial inclosure, and that for the past twenty-five years had paid the taxes on the land in dispute as being a part of the Casper farm. In other words, the court in effect found that the defendant had title by adverse possession of the strip in question. Upon the question of an established boundary the court found as follows:

“That plaintiff and his predecessors in interest, in connection with the defendant and his predecessors in interest, have constructed and maintained, as and for the boundary line between the tracts of land claimed and occupied and used by the plaintiff and defendant, a substantial fence along which has been planted for a part of the distance a row of trees, which said row of trees and fence and a deep wash marked the boundary and division line between said tracts of land as claimed, used, and occupied and the boundary line as so marked has been acquiesced in and recognized by the plaintiff and defendant and their predecessors in interest, which said fence and row of trees and wash substantially conform with the south boundary line of the tract hereinbefore described in paragraph 3.”

1 The plaintiff vigorously assails the findings of fact and conclusions of law. It is contended that the findings of fact are not supported by the evidence in certain particulars. In view that counsel for plaintiff, in his brief, has argued with much force that the court erred in its findings of fact and that the evidence produced at the trial does [165]*165not bring tbis case within the doctrine announced by this court in boundary line disputes as appears from the many cases decided by this court, we have very carefully read all of the evidence as the same is certified up by the district court in the bill of exceptions. The district judge not only had the advantage of personally seeing and hearing the witnesses who testified, but he also made an inspection of the premises, and thus was in a much better position to determine the weight that should be given to the testimony of the several witnesses who testified, where their testimony is in conflict, than we are. Practically the whole testimony relates to the question of where the boundary line between the plaintiff’s and defendant’s land is located on'the ground.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Halladay v. Cluff
685 P.2d 500 (Utah Supreme Court, 1984)
Brown v. Milliner
232 P.2d 202 (Utah Supreme Court, 1951)
Malouf v. Fischer
159 P.2d 881 (Utah Supreme Court, 1945)
Nelson v. Da Rouch Et Ux.
50 P.2d 273 (Utah Supreme Court, 1935)
Tripp v. Bagley
276 P. 912 (Utah Supreme Court, 1928)
Cott v. Jacklin
226 P. 460 (Utah Supreme Court, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
176 P. 849, 53 Utah 161, 1918 Utah LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-cott-v-casper-utah-1918.